1. Field of Invention
The present disclosure generally relates to systems and methods for the remittance of funds for the purchase of goods or services of an online retailer.
2. Background
Online shopping is the examination of the goods or services of a retailer on the internet by consumers with the intent to purchase said goods or services. Online shopping has become a common worldwide alternative to in-store shopping. Frequently, online shoppers wish to purchase goods or services at the time of examination, and various systems or methods exist for accomplishing the remittance of purchasing funds to the retailer of the goods/services. For example, online shoppers can remit purchasing funds by: providing credit or debit card information to the retailer; providing Automated Clearing House (ACH) (a.k.a. eCheck) debit information to the retailer; providing the account information of a payment intermediary (e.g., PayPal®) who remits purchasing funds to the retailer; or, developing a line of credit from the retailer (or third party creditor (e.g. BillMeLater®)) who fronts the purchasing funds and invoices the shopper at a later date.
Although common, the known systems and methods of accomplishing the remittance of purchasing funds to retailers are not entirely satisfactory for online shopping. One cause, among others, of the stated dissatisfaction is that the known remittance methods do not permit the online shopper to pay with cash and instead require the use of a deposit or credit account. For example: purchasing funds cannot be remitted via a credit or debit card unless said card(s) is associated with a credit or deposit account; ACH cannot be used to remit purchasing funds unless an underlying deposit account exists; payment intermediaries require a user deposit account with the intermediary or an account with the intermediary that is associated with a credit or deposit account; and lines of credit, by definition, require a credit account. The requirement of a deposit or credit account is sometimes problematic in terms of an online shopper accomplishing the remittance of purchasing funds because: (1) many potential shoppers are unwilling or unable to use electronic funds transfer from a deposit or credit account (e.g., many potential online shoppers do not have a credit or deposit account due to mistrust of financial institutions, cultural or language barriers to account creation, seized or frozen accounts, or a preference to cash); (2) many potential online shoppers lack a sufficient credit rating for the creation of a credit account; and/or (3) many potential online shoppers do not want to have their credit/deposit account or other personal information directly associated with certain on line purchases. The requirement of a deposit or credit account is further problematic in terms of retailers receiving purchasing funds from an online shopper since consumer protections for deposit or credit account holders allow purchase cancelations and charge-backs. Accordingly, there is a need for systems and methods of accomplishing the remittance of purchasing cash by an online shopper (i.e., without the need for a credit or deposit account).
One option that exists for accomplishing the remittance of purchasing funds by an online shopper without the need for a credit or deposit account is the use of a prepaid gift-card. Prepaid gift-cards are typically “loaded” with cash-value and may later be used for online purchases. See, e.g., Green Dot®, www.mygreendot.com. However, gift-cards can be wasteful since the online shopper must purchase and load the card without presently knowing the cost of goods or services that will be purchased at a later time so that the customer may have to use the card to buy goods/services that cost less than the available balance on the card (e.g., a card having a $2.95 balance cannot be used to purchase goods/services of more than $2.95 in value and oftentimes it is difficult if not impossible to find goods/services with an exact value of $2.95). Furthermore, gift-cards usually have terms and conditions that can restrict the online shopper, impose fees that deplete or cancel card balances, or deny or restrict payments of interest on the card balance. Furthermore, such systems frequently require the establishment of an account and gift-cards are not specific to any single transaction. Due to these drawbacks, and others, a need still exists for systems and methods of accomplishing the remittance of purchasing funds by an online shopper without the need for a credit or deposit account, for example, by paying with cash.
Another option for accomplishing the remittance of purchasing funds by an online shopper without the need for a credit or deposit account is the use of a cash wiring service (e.g., Western Union®). For example, Continental Airlines® airlines has permitted the reservation and subsequent purchase of an airline ticket based on a promise to use and subsequent use of a cash wire transferring service to send purchasing funds to an franchise of the wire transferring service for retrieval by Continental Airlines®. See http://www.continental.com/web/en-US/content/booking/flight/westernUnion.aspx?Mobile=1 (last visited Oct. 14, 2010). However, such use of cash wiring services: (1) does not have an integrated online checkout so that the online shopper must fill out a lengthy physical form in an effort to identify the recipient retailer and to identify the cash amount they wish to transfer; (2) the recipient retailer must approach the cash wiring service in order to receive the funds; (3) cash wiring services use a proprietary network to accomplish the cash wiring instead of electronic funds transfer so that the service fees are higher; and/or (4) the shopper must identify to the recipient retailer the physical location of the cash wiring service prior to remitting the cash. Furthermore, cash wiring services do not offer managed arrangements so that the customer can overpay and thereby lose money or underpay and thereby lose the desired goods or services (i.e., the wiring service does not know the amount the customer must pay for the goods and services of the retailer). For these reasons, and others, there still remains a need for systems and methods of accomplishing the remittance of cash purchasing funds by an online shopper (i.e., without the need for a credit or deposit account).
In addition to the methods for remitting purchasing funds identified above, various other types of systems and methods for remitting purchasing funds are disclosed in the U.S. patent and published patent application databases. As discussed below, these known purchasing fund remittance methods are also limited and do not meet all the needs of persons who are desirous of remitting cash for purchases made while online shopping without the need for a credit or deposit account.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,664,703 (issued Feb. 16, 2010) and U.S. Pub. Pat. App. No. 2007/0136189 (published Jun. 14, 2007) discloses an electronic deposit account that functions in the same manner as a gift card without being tied to a card medium, but which nevertheless features many of the online shopping drawbacks of gift cards. See U.S. Pub. Pat. App. No. 2007/0136189, para. [0052].
U.S. Pub. Pat. App. No. 20020082962 discloses a system of kiosks that functions in almost the same manner as cash wiring services, namely, that a payer may deposit cash into a kiosk whereafter a payee may retrieve cash at another kiosk. Of course, such a kiosk system has the same limitations in terms of online shopping as are disclosed above in connection with cash wire transfer services.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,945,457 (issued Sep. 20, 2005) and 7,660,767 (issued Feb. 9, 2010) and U.S. Pub. Pat. App. No. 2002/0004781 disclose combination internet and ATM kiosks wherein users may access the internet, shop online, and deposit cash into the ATM as a mechanism for remitting purchasing funds. The disclosed combination ATM/internet kiosks are not adequate for those online shoppers who desire shopping in the privacy of their own home.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,487,127 (issued Feb. 3, 2009) discloses a method for online shopping wherein a retailer who is unwilling or unable to accept electronic payments (e.g., credit, debit, or ACH transfers) is paid in cash. Basically, such a system is akin to known purchase fund remittance methods plus cash wire transfer services so that the retailer can retrieve cash. This disclosed system does not address the needs of an online shopper who is unwilling or unable to remit purchasing funds electronically (i.e. unwilling or unable to use a deposit or credit account for remitting purchasing funds).
While not entirely analogous or applicable to online shopping, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,616,902 (issued Apr. 1, 1997), 7,206,759 (issued Apr. 17, 2007), 7,627,524 (issued Dec. 1, 2009) and 7668766 (issued Feb. 23, 2010) and U.S. Pub. Pat. App. Nos. 2003/0097332 (published May 22, 2003) and 2002/0152165 (published Oct. 17, 2002) disclose the geographic placement of kiosks for utility (e.g., telephone, gas, electricity, etc) consumers to pay bills using cash. While the kiosk-type bill collectors do permit the payment of cash, the underlying bills/invoices are the result of the issuance of a line of credit or account for the utility customer whereby such a system is not completely anonymous to the shopper. Another drawback of these billed systems is that the retailer must advance a good or service with the expectation that the bill will be paid at a later date (e.g., utility, telephone, cable etc.). Because the goods or services are advanced, these types of remittance methods feature many of the limitations of a credit account, and others. U.S. Pub. Pat. No. 2004/0019559 discloses a similar system wherein a third party payment service providers (PSP) is directed by a payer to pay a bill or invoice instead of a kiosk. U.S. Pub. Pat. No. 2005/0033690 also discloses a similar system with similar drawbacks.
Yet still, known methods for purchasing goods online are inadequate in terms of the manner by which ownership of the purchased goods is transferred to the shopper. Typically, the purchased goods have been delivered to a physical address of the shopper (whether located at the shopper's home, post office, or shipping warehouse) in order for the merchant to transfer ownership of the goods. However, this method of ownership transfer is not entirely adequate for those online shoppers that either do not possess a physical address (e.g., a homeless person, a transient person, or an illegal alien), do not want the purchased goods delivered to their physical address due to the nature of the purchased goods, or desire anonymity. Accordingly, there is a need for methods of online shopping wherein ownership of the purchased goods may be transferred to the shopper without the need for the shopper to provide his/her physical address.
In view of the recited inadequacies of known remittance methods for use during online shopping, this application discloses methods and systems for the remittance of cash by an online shopper as the purchasing form for the goods or services of an online retailer.